Octaman! (1971)

32 Days of Halloween XIII
Movie Night #26

Image: VHS Collector

You’d be forgiven for thinking something was amiss when the costume for the titular monster of tonight’s pick is shown straight up at the beginning at the film. Plus: it’s front and center on all of the posters. But then you watch the film and you realize: it’s the best thing of the entire business. And there’s a reason for that: it’s the theatrical debut of makeup and effects guru, Rick Baker (just about everything…it’s kinda pointless to choose a title to remind you who he is). Co-starring with the creature are Kerwin Mathews (7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth).

Normally I only include one snippet or something from a single poster/source. But this one is amazing.

Starting at the title and going clockwise, you have “OCTAMAN The Octopus Assassin,” “A normal octopus grows grows grows!” and then finally “Horror with the most horrendous nuclear mutation.” I heart that freaking poster.

Your best bet to own this, really, is to get the recent Rifftrax take on it. You can grab that at their site here.